Republic of Sordland

Sordland, or the Republic of Sordland, is a semi-unitary presidential republic in Eastern Merkopa, nestled between the Sourne Mountains, the Markian Sea, the Cavendir and Gumren Mountains, the Unger River, and the Antacean Sea. Rumburg and Agnolia border it to the north, while Wehlen and Lespia lie to the south. Sordland's capital and largest city is Holsord, with Deyr and Lachaven serving as the second most populous city and financial center, respectively. Sordland's official language is Sordish. The fall of the Renan Aristocracy and the independence wars of many countries in Western Merkopa in the 19th century prompted the establishment of the Sordish Nationalist Movement, which was strengthened further by King Egmund, who founded the Kingdom of Sordland on nationalistic ideas and claimed to be maroon blood. The Century of Revolutions soon overtook the kingdom with a strong democratic revolutionary movement led by Artor Wisci. On 9 September 1923, the revolutionary movement abolished the monarchy and formed a new government in Holsord, declaring itself the legitimate government of the country. This formalized the legal transition of Sordland from a constitutional monarchy into a new republican system. This period is considered to be the start of the era of the First Republic of Sordland. Artor S. Wisci became the republic’s first president, introduced many reforms and decided to send the royal family to Duru Island. The reforms aimed to transform the religion and nationality based monarchy into a secular and democratic state that would be governed as a presidential republic. The government of Wisci was influenced by both parliamentary democracies in Western Merkopa and the socialist states in Contana, which aimed to transition Sordland from its initial presidential system into a parliamentary system and to introduce socialist reforms in the following years. The government introduced a multi-party system and scheduled the first elections to be held in 1927. Following the multi-party reforms, many political parties were formed, some of which promoted monarchism, anti-secularism and anti-communism. This prompted protests from the republicans and the socialists, who claimed these parties should not be allowed to enter the elections. In 1927, ahead of the first elections, General Luderin of the Sordish Armed Forces led a military coup against the government, abolished the constitution and declared martial law, citing ‘left-wing riots’ as the justification for the military junta he established. He ordered the arrest of President Wisci and the executions of hundreds of revolutionaries and communist politicians, effectively ending the era of ‘the First Republic of Sordland’. In 1928, following the mass executions of the martial law period, General Rikard attempted to seize power from Luderin and led an attack against the new administration. This led to the start of the Sordish Civil War, which lasted until 1929. In 1929, the Sordish Civil War was brought to an end by Colonel Tarquin Soll and his 6th Army, which successfully destroyed both General Rikard and Luderin’s forces. He captured Holsord and became the de-facto head of the state. During his de-facto rule, Soll wrote a new constitution and formed the United Sordland Party. He held elections in the same year with the participation of only one party, and was subsequently elected the second president of Sordland. This is considered by many as the start of the era of ‘the Second Republic of Sordland’. Others claim that this date should be regarded as the true start of the modern Republic of Sordland, due to the first period of the Republic being short-lived. Tarquin Soll served as president between 1929 and 1949, enacting many reforms which saw many developments in healthcare, military technology and sciences. He pursued a planned economy, nationalized many key industries, brought an end to the decades-long energy crisis and implemented free education and healthcare systems. In 1930, Sordland was invited and joined the OMEC. In 1931, President Soll exiled the royal family from Sordland to eliminate further monarchist sentiments. In 1933, he brought the multi-party system back and held the first ever elections of Sordland with more than one political party. The conflict between the Bludish Freedom Front (BFF) and Sordland also started in 1933 and has been active since, primarily in the Bergia region. The third president of Sordland was Ewald Alphonso, who was elected in 1949, following his victory against Tarquin Soll in the USP congress of 1946. The presidency of Alphonso saw many economic reforms, privatized many key industries and pursued greater political and cultural rights in Sordland. Since the liberalisation of the Sordish economy in the early 1950’s, the country has suffered an economic crisis in 1951 and a subsequent recession in the following years. In the 1953 elections, Anton Rayne was elected the fourth president of Sordland.